


This is the Time of Our Great Undoing

by Foxleggs



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Fix-It, Flashbacks, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Infinity War spoilers, M/M, Multiple Universes, PTSD, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Sibling Incest, descriptions of character death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:26:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxleggs/pseuds/Foxleggs
Summary: After the battle in Wakanda, Thor awakes in his old rooms on Asgard.But it is not the Asgard that he once knew and the Loki who greets him is not his Loki.This Loki is from an alternative universe where he lost his own Thor. Now he wants this Thor as a replacement.





	1. All The Towers of Ivory Are Crumbling

**Author's Note:**

> I have not seen the movie this is based on internet spoilers. 
> 
> The title comes from Straight To You by Nick Cave.

Stormbreaker failed. _He _failed.__  


His quest had been for naught. They were all still killed. Dozens of people died before his very eyes; some of whom he had considered friends. He knew that billions of people had died across the universe, perhaps even trillions. Heimdall would have known for sure.  


Thor closed his eyes, chasing one fleeting moment of peace. He did not find it. His mind swam with visions of Heimdall; Asgard; Hela; Odin and, finally, his brother.  


It was the image of Loki, dead in his arms once again, that finally broke him. A single tear slipped from the corner of his eye.  


He felt himself falling.  


*  


Thor had expected to feel the earth beneath him. Instead, he felt a warm fur on top of a soft mattress. It felt exactly like his old bed in his chambers on Asgard.  


Thor opened his eyes. He was indeed in his old bed in his old chambers. Somehow, he was home.  


Had it… no, it could not have been a dream; he had felt it all too much. Plus, he doubted that his own subconscious could be so cruel to him as to put him through all of that. So, what exactly was going on?  


He sat up enough to look himself over: he was still in the clothes he had been wearing; Stormbreaker lay on the bed next to him. All was the same; it was as though he had been plucked from that point and placed here, in this room that should not exist. But how? And by whom?  


Movement. On the balcony.  


Thor was on his feet in an instant. He crept across the room and out onto the balcony. Where he came face to face with his brother.  


Loki looked hale and hearty and every bit as surprised as Thor. His mouth hung open for a moment, then it stretched into an enormous grin.  


“Thor!” Loki closed the distance between them to clasp his brother’s arms. “Thor, I did it, I…” He paused. His smile faded.  


“Loki, what is going on?”  


Loki took a step back, composed himself. “Tell me the last thing you remember before this.”  


“I was on Midgard. We fought Thanos. It all went wrong, it all went so horribly wrong and I…”  


“We fought Thanos on Midgard?”  


Thor could not bring himself to answer straight away. Instead, he studied his brother. Loki was not wearing the outfit in which he had seen him last; he was back in the blue clothing that he had favoured on Sakaar. Quite what that meant was a mystery to Thor. He steeled himself.  


“Loki, you were not with me on Midgard. You were killed by Thanos aboard the ship.”  


Loki’s sole reaction to being told that he had died was a furrowed brow. “What ship?”  


“The ship we used to flee Ragnarok.”  


“Ragnarok still happened?”  


Still? This was a very confusing conversation. 

“Yes, but we were fine until Thanos attacked and then you died and everyone else died and I…” It suddenly dawned on him what must have happened. “I’m dead, aren’t I? I must have turned to dust along with everyone else. I don’t know why we are here instead of Valhalla but at least we are together and…”  


Loki shook his head and waved his hand to silence his brother.  


“You’re not dead, nor am I. You’re just… you’re not my Thor.”  


What could that possibly mean? He was sick of having no idea what was going on. In his frustration he snapped at his brother.  


“Whose Thor am I?”  


Loki’s expression turned warm. He chuckled, then sighed. “Oh, you’re him all right. Every inch of you is him and yet, you’re not.” He took a deep breath before he went on. “We are not from the same universe, Thor. You died in mine and I, apparently, died in yours.”  


Multiple universes. Ok, that was something that Thor could get his head around. So, the Loki in front of him was not his own. His Loki was still lost to him.  


“What happened to me in your universe?”  


“Hela killed you. She defeated Thanos and then she cut you down.”  


That was a lot to take in. He leaned against a pillar. “Hela and Thanos?”  


“Yeah, that is going to take some explaining.” Loki moved to lean on the pillar next to Thor. “On Sakaar, you turned down my gracious offer to rule with me and so I had to plan for an alternative future,”  


“Thanos was a lingering threat in the back of my mind for years. I knew that, once word reached him that I was alive, it was only a matter of time before he came for me. It occurred to me that I could use one problem to solve the other: pit Thanos against Hela. One would no doubt destroy the other. Then, perhaps, whichever one remained would be sufficiently weakened that I could end them.”  


Thor straightened up. “You brought Thanos to Asgard?!”  


Loki pouted. “Oh, don’t look at me like that, Asgard was already doomed. Do you want to hear what happened or not?”  


Thor settled down into place. He was still angry at his brother, but he wanted him to finish his tale.  


“I went to Thanos – not physically, I’m not a fool – and told him that, if he met me on Asgard, I would help him break into the vault and take the tesseract in exchange for letting me live. He agreed, although I have zero doubts that he would have slain me as soon as the tesseract was his.”  


Thor had to shut his eyes against the memory of Thanos doing just that. Loki must have realised that something was wrong, as he paused whilst Thor steadied his breathing. When he opened his eyes, Loki continued.  


“I stole a ship and went to Asgard. There, I warned our sister that the titan was on his way. She marched out to meet him when he landed. I watched from a distance: it was brutal. I thought for sure she would lose but Thanos did not have the full set of infinity stones and she had the weight of Asgard’s power behind her. Once it became obvious that she would prevail, I informed one of Thanos’s goons that the way to defeat her was to enter the vault and place Surtur’s crown in the eternal flame.”  


“What of the Asgardians?”  


“That was where it all began to go wrong. I had informed Heimdall of … parts of my plan. He was to lead the remaining citizens to the Bifrost whilst Hela was suitably distracted, but I did not account for the wolf. He and Heimdall fell from the bridge mid-fight. There was chaos and - in the midst of that chaos - you arrived.”  


Thor perked up. “Did we bring the ark?”  


Loki looked at him in confusion. “We? Ark? You arrived alone in a tiny vessel. And mere moments before Ragnarok. I thought that I had timed it all perfectly, that I was Asgard’s saviour. Instead, Asgard fell, and her people with her. Hela killed you as though it were nothing. I escaped as she fought Surtur. I saw our home crumble.”  


So, this Loki had gone through much the same experience as Thor himself. Still, that did not answer Thor’s most pressing question.  


“What is this place?”  


Loki had been lost in his own thoughts. The question yanked him back.  


“I made this place.” He stood and walked to the edge of the balcony. Thor followed.  


“I took the tesseract from the vault and used its power to make a facsimile of home.”  


Now that Thor was looking for it, he could see that the view from his balcony was not quite right. Details were missing, objects in the background were fuzzy.  


“You must have been on my mind, for I found myself recreating your rooms. For a moment, I thought I had recreated you, but I merely pulled another you from a different universe.”  


Thor turned to face the palace. From what he could see, his room had been perfectly replicated but, outside, the walls merely stopped. The surrounding area consisted of white space. Loki must have been unable to remake Asgard in its entirety. Thor looked to his brother.  


“The tesseract is capable of all this?”  


Loki shrugged. “If the one wielding it knows how to use it.” He punctuated the sentence with a smirk.  


A thought occurred to Thor. “So, you can get us out of here? We can go back to my universe and bring down Thanos?”  


Loki’s mouth hung open again. “You’re proposing that the two of us face off against Thanos?”  


“Yes!” He had failed by himself but, surely, with his brother by his side, wielding the tesseract as Thor did Stormbreaker. Surely…  


Loki rubbed his eyes. He let out a huff. “Remind me what happened when I faced Thanos in your universe.”  


_Thor could smell something burning. He struggled against the metal that bound him. Loki was before him, first attacking Thanos and then… Loki was calling his name, but his lips were not moving; he was not moving. Still he called his name. Someone gripped his arms. ___  


“Thor. Thor! Come back to me.”  


Thor came back to himself. He was on the balcony in the faux Asgard. The Loki from the alternate universe had hold of his arms and was shaking him slightly. Loki’s eyes were wide and his face was white as a sheet.  


“Thor? Brother? Are you back?”  


Unable to speak just yet, Thor nodded. His brother let out a breath.  


“I’m sorry, I really am but we cannot defeat him.”  


Thor forced himself to focus. “So many people have died, Loki. They are still dying right now! We cannot do nothing.”  


“We are out of time.”  


Thor frowned. “We’re too late?”  


Loki raised an eyebrow. Then he burst out laughing. He bent forward until his head was almost pressed against Thor’s chest, his whole body shaking.  


Indignant, Thor jabbed a finger at him. “Cease laughing at me!”  


Loki straightened up, he made an attempt at controlling himself. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.” He was still in semi-hysterics. Despite the seriousness of the situation, Thor found himself trying not to smile.  


Loki let go of Thor’s arms in order to take his hand.  


“My apologies. The moment was so tense and then you had to go and say that.” He brought Thor’s hand to his mouth to press a kiss to his knuckles. “I have pulled us from time. Your universe and mine are both in stasis. Nothing is happening to your friends right now, I swear; we can stay here for ever.”  


“You are certain?”  


Loki shrugged. “About ninety-nine percent sure. Maybe ninety-five.”  


Thor’s chuckle turned into a groan. “Loki…”  


“They are fine. They are not suffering.” He rubbed Thor’s palm with his thumb. “Stay with me, Thor. We can live a long and happy life here. Together.”  


The offer was tempting, there was no denying that. The hopeful expression on his brother’s face all but killed Thor. It killed him even more to deny him.  


“I cannot, Loki. I must go back no matter what.”  


Loki smiled sadly. “Then, at least, stay until you have formulated a plan. You will be much better use to your friends in that case.”  


Thor had to concede that that was a good point. He nodded.  


The smile that bloomed across Loki’s face was contagious.  


Loki entwined his fingers with Thor’s. They turned to look out over Asgard. He had really done a tremendous job recreating the view. There was even something like a sun blazing bright in the sky.  


Thor looked at his brother. He squeezed his hand to get his attention.  


“I love you.”  


There was an embarrassed edge to Loki’s smile. “I know, brother. I love you, too.”  


For a moment, Thor could let himself relax. Standing hand-in-hand with his brother in his old familiar home, he could cease his worrying and just enjoy having Loki back.  


Even if the sun shining upon them was entirely artificial.


	2. This Is The Time That I'll Come Running

Thor would not have agreed to stay so readily had he known that Loki would turn into such a mother hen.  


Not five minutes after their reunion he was ushered inside, stripped down and put to bed. He protested the entire time, but Loki was not in a listening mood.  


“You need to rest, Thor.”  


That was most likely true, but he felt the need to put up at least a token resistance.  


“It is far too early for sleep: it’s still light out.”  


Loki made a vague gesture over his shoulder and the daylight outside disappeared. He ignored his brother’s questioning glance in favour of leaning over him to pick up Stormbreaker. He examined it, pressing his fingers lightly to the purple-stained edge. Then he looked to his brother and raised an eyebrow.  


“Forged on Nidavellir. I was able to wound Thanos with it but, ultimately, it was not enough.”  


If only he had gone for the head. Why had he chosen the heart? To mirror what the madman had done to Heimdall? That was no way to plan a battle.  


Loki was swinging the axe through the air to test its heft. He continued to do so as he spoke.  


“We will not be partaking in self-pity and regret here, brother. Nor grief, if that can be helped. None of those things are beneficial.” He ceased his mime with the axe and turned to Thor. “And I do not have the heart to watch you suffer.”  


Thor smiled up at him. He knew he was right, that torturing himself with ‘what ifs’ helped no one. At the very least, he should attempt to stop for his brother’s sake.  


Loki placed Stormbreaker on the floor at the side of the bed. “Get some sleep, brother, I will see you in the morning.”  


Thor sat up onto his elbows. “Where will you sleep?”  


Loki was already halfway across the room. “I don’t need to sleep.”  


“That is rather hypocritical, brother. Might I remind you that I dutifully went to bed without complaint the second you told me to?”  


Loki turned back, frowning. “These short-term memory problems you are having are very troubling. I should look into the cause.”  


“No need. I am quite certain the cure is a good night’s rest with my brother safely by my side.”  


Loki rolled his eyes but approached the bed anyway. As he did so, his clothing shimmered and shifted into lighter sleeping attire. As he climbed into bed he somehow managed to make it clear via body language alone that Thor’s entire existence was an inconvenience to him.  


Thor moved over as little as he could get away with. He wanted his brother close. Once Loki was settled on his back, Thor shuffled over to place his head on his chest. Loki was forced to lift his arm to accommodate him, then he used it to pull Thor closer.  


Contentment flowed through Thor. He began to drift off, his brother’s heartbeat a relaxing rhythm in his ear. He would have fallen asleep immediately, had Loki not chose that moment to think aloud.  


“My Thor’s eyes were both the same colour. I wonder why yours are not? I suppose it is but one of those strange quirks of fate.”  


It was, of course, but not in the way that Loki meant. Thor raised himself up so he could see his brother’s face when he spoke.  


“Actually, the different-colour eye is not my own. I lost mine to Hela and then a rabbit I met gave me this one as a replacement.”  


Loki blinked a few too many times. “I…”  


“A story for another time, brother. Goodnight!”  


Loki was still over-blinking when Thor settled back down and closed his eyes.  


*  


The bed was empty when he awoke. Loki was nowhere to be seen.  


There was, however, a fresh set of clothes hanging up on Thor’s wardrobe.  


He dressed himself quickly, eager to get to the table of food he had spied.  


It was all fruit – Loki’s preferred breakfast – and a pitcher of water. It was simple, but Thor could not afford to be spoilt when it came to food these days. He had just bitten into an apple when Loki walked in from the balcony.  


“Where have you been?” Thor asked, his mouth full.  


Loki grimaced. “Still an absolute pig, I see. I have been off testing the tesseract’s powers.” He took a seat at the opposite end of the table. “Well, it’s more like I’m testing my control of the power. I’m seeing what I can handle.”  


Thor swallowed so as not to further offend his brother’s delicate sensibilities. “It is not like you to admit that you cannot handle something.”  


“Neither of us are the arrogant youths we once were.”  


It had been less than ten years – though it felt like several centuries – since the more innocent time to which Loki referred.  


Thor could picture all of them: himself, Loki, Sif and the Warriors Three mounting their horses for their ill-fated journey to Jotunheim. Now they were all dead save himself, and possibly Sif.  


He had indeed been an arrogant youth; brash, hot-headed and so eager to prove himself. The man he was now bore little resemblance to that spoilt prince. Thor would not change who he was now, but he regretted so many of the events that had gained him his wisdom and maturity.  


The chair next to him scraped against the stone floor. Loki dropped down into the seat.  


“Honestly, Thor, must you think so loudly?”  


“In truth, I do not know how to switch it off.”  


Loki produced two goblets from thin air. “Wine helps.”  


Thor managed a little smile as he took the offered goblet. He did his best to perk up. “Are you not eating, brother? I thought grapes were a particular favourite of yours?”  


With his free hand he grabbed the nearest bunch and held them aloft. When Loki made to take them, he snatched his hand back. Then he moved to dangle the grapes just above his brother’s mouth.  


Loki let them dangle for a moment as he forced out an exaggerated sigh. Then he locked eyes with Thor as he leaned forward and bit off a single grape. Open-mouthed, he rolled the grape on his tongue for a second. He closed his mouth to chew and swallow it down.  


Thor found himself swallowing also.  


“I suppose that jibe was about my time spent as father?”  


Thor had to scramble to get his thoughts back to the conversation they had been having.  


“Was that the same for you, then? You masqueraded as him for two years until I showed up with Surtur’s crown?”  


“I think it likely that our universes were very similar – if not exactly the same – until it came to us fighting Hela.”  


That made sense. “My Loki did not sneak back to Asgard. I went first with Hulk and the Valkyrie and he followed behind.” That was technically true, he did not think it prudent to venture into the messy details right now.  


Loki reached for his own wine. “That’s probably why you were more successful than I was. Perhaps I should have informed you of what I was doing and brought all of you with me.”  


If their universes were almost the same… “Loki, did you still fall from the Bifrost? And attack New York by order of Thanos?”  


Loki eyed him suspiciously over the top of his goblet. He nodded.  


“So, you spent time with him? What can you tell me of him? What weaknesses has he?”  


Loki put down his goblet and placed both palms flat on the table. “I meant what I said, Thor: there is no defeating him.”  


“Your Hela managed it.”  


“She was most certainly not _my _Hela. But she was more powerful than both of us combined and Thanos did not have all the stones. That is the only reason she won; it would be impossible for us.”__  


“So, I should not even try?”  


“You did try.”  


If Loki had said it in a mean-spirited way meant to rile him, then Thor would not have risen to the bait. But, Loki calmly stating the fact of his failure in a voice meant to be soothing rankled him beyond measure.  


Thor shoved up out of his seat, knocking the chair over as he did so. The eye roll this elicited from Loki did not help his mood. He began to pace back and forth.  


Loki got up to watch him, leaning against Thor’s vacated space on the table. He folded his arms across his chest.  


“Just accept it, Thor.”  


Thor scowled at his brother. “And let Thanos get away with all that he has done?”  


“You are not ‘letting’ him do anything; you cannot stop him, you can only die trying.”  


“I’d sooner that than stay here like a coward!”  


Loki straightened, dropping his arms to his sides. His hands balled into fists. “You…”  


Thor continued his pacing. Whatever argument Loki was about to unleash on him, he was ready to just ignore it.  


“Fuck you!”  


The shock of the sudden profanity brought him to a standstill. Dumbstruck, he turned to face his furious brother.  


Loki went on. “You do not get to throw your life away because you are hurting. You do not get to leave me alone to grieve!”  


Thor snorted. “That is rich coming from you. You let go. You made me watch as you dropped into darkness.”  


“And look where it got me! That one stupid, selfish act led us to this point. You cannot do the same thing I did and just assume that will all work out fine because you’re Thor!” Loki ran out of breath.  


This was useless. Thor required a different approach. He crossed over to Loki, keeping his voice calm and steady.  


“Loki, he killed you in front of me. If Hela were still alive in your universe, wouldn’t you want to destroy her for what she did to me?”  


Loki looked down and away. He was no doubt recalling in vivid detail the death of his own brother.  


Thor closed the distance between them, placing a light hand on Loki’s waist. It brought Loki out of his reverie.  


Loki’s eyes were wide, his brows drawn up together. There was pleading note in his voice.  


“My Thor is gone. All my efforts to retrieve him failed.” He raised his hands to grip Thor’s shoulders. As he drew nearer, Thor’s arm naturally slid around his waist. “If you are the closest to him that I can get, then I will make do. You are enough for me, brother, could I not be enough for you?”  


Thor could not bring himself to answer. Instead, he pulled him into a proper embrace. Pressed against him so tightly, he could feel Loki’s heartbeat racing in his chest. If only they could stay like this; Loki’s arms around his shoulders, his grip crushing Loki’s waist. If only he could hold his brother until they both ceased to hurt. If only they had never got to this point in the first place. If only, if only, if only…  


It was Loki who pulled away first. And not as far as Thor was expecting. Loki slid his hands down until he was cupping the side of Thor’s neck – mirroring that old, familiar gesture. His other hand came to rest over Thor’s heart.  


“Thor, I…” His gaze flitted between Thor’s eyes and his mouth. Then he moved.  


Too late, Thor realised what he meant to do.  


Loki pulled Thor’s head down as he stretched up to meet him. He brought their lips together.  


Thor was too stunned to react. His arms fell from his brother’s waist to hang impotently at his sides. He made no attempt to push Loki away. He did not kiss back, but he kept his mouth slack. He remained in a dreadful limbo.  


Loki broke the kiss to look to Thor for a reaction. Whatever it was that he saw, it moved him to kiss him again.  


This time, Loki’s tongue made its way into Thor’s mouth. When it met Thor’s own, he responded, just for a second. When he stopped, Loki withdrew.  


He pulled back to look at him again. “Thor, do you not want…”  


Thor could not meet his eyes. Nor could he bring himself to speak. He knew himself a coward in that moment.  


Loki shot back, crying out as his back made sharp contact with the side of the table. When Thor made to check that he was ok, Loki shoved him, much harder than he should have been able.  


Thor found himself on his back several feet away. By the time he had struggled to a sitting position, Loki was already running for the balcony.  


He scrambled to his feet and gave chase. The balcony was empty when he reached it. Surely Loki had not…  


Leaning over the side showed him only more white space. The Asgardian scenery did not begin until further up. Thor scanned the horizon until he saw movement: a solitary crow far off in the distance. Loki.  


Thor breathed a sigh of relief at his brother’s apparent safety. Then he was left to deal with a different problem.  


He was trapped.


	3. Straight To You

Thor watched until the crow was out of sight.  


He entertained the idea of climbing – or even jumping – over the balcony to go after Loki. He dismissed it, though, there was no telling what would happen once he reached that white space.  


Back inside, he tried his bedroom doors on the off chance. They did not so much as rattle in their frames. There was nothing else for it: he would have to wait. Loki would have to come back at some point.  


During their adolescence, they were forever falling out over some petty slight. Loki would storm off and sulk for the better part of the day. He was always back by nightfall.  


Loki was just emotional. Thor himself had barely ceased touching his brother since his arrival. After seeing him dead, it soothed him to be near him, to physically feel his brother’s presence, to be able to listen to his heartbeat and know that he lived.  


Loki must have been experiencing much the same thing. Only his emotions had overwhelmed and confused him, to be point where affection and passion had become enmeshed and he had moved in for a kiss.  


Thor wished that he could tell him that everything was all right, that he was not angry or disgusted. He understood that Loki’s mind and heart were a whirling, chaotic mess. He was willing to put the incident to one side and move on. He just needed to wait for nightfall for Loki to come back.  


Nightfall never came.  


At Thor’s best guess, it had been twelve hours since Loki’s flight, but the sun still shone. In that time, he had washed up; polished off the fruit and exercised as much as he was able to indoors.  


Finally, he gave up on waiting for his brother and retired to bed. As soon as his head hit the pillow, the sky outside went black. That must have been Loki’s doing. Did that mean he was watching him? Well, that was positive. He tried to put it from his mind and go to sleep.  


Without his brother, the bed seemed impossibly large. Cold, too.  


Sleep did not come easily. He missed having his brother at his side; it had been so peaceful with him there.  


_Loki’s steady breathing. His chest rising and falling, taking Thor’s head with it. Loki taking the grape into his mouth, rolling it on his tongue. That same tongue in Thor’s mouth, sweet from the half-drank wine. The look on his face before he kissed him, the horror after. ___  


Thor found that he could not settle. Whether he tried resting on his back or either side, he could not relax. He could not attempt to lie on his front. Heat pooled low in his belly. Every movement jostled his semi-hard length. He could only ignore it for so long.  


He shoved the blankets low enough that the cold air could harden his nipples. He teased them with his fingers before reaching down to take himself in hand.  


Stress relief. That was what he told himself. He had been so long without even simple comforts such as this, he just needed to relax.  


That he came imagining lush green grapes, the taste of wine and the sound of a heart beating was neither here nor there.  


*  


It was dark when he awoke, though he was certain that he had slept a good many hours. Perhaps he needed Loki for this also.  


“I am awake.” He called into the darkness, feeling faintly ridiculous.  


He expected either nothing at all to happen or to witness the reverse of what he had seen last night. Instead, it got gradually lighter, like a sunrise at fifty times the speed. Thor thought it a shame that he had not been on the balcony to see it properly.  


As with the day before, there were clean clothes hanging up and a table full of fresh fruit. Thor found himself unable to eat the grapes.  


When he ventured out onto the balcony the sight that greeted him caused him to gasp.  


Asgard had degraded in the night. Buildings lay in ruins; some had disappeared altogether. Plants had grown exponentially, to the point that some of them had overtaken buildings. All the around the edges, the white space was creeping in.  


What did this mean? Where was Loki in all of this?  


It was beyond frustrating that he could do nothing but wait.  


Thor decided that a better use of his time would be to consider battle strategy for when he was able to confront Thanos again. He dragged his wardrobe into the centre of the room to be a stand in for the mad titan. Then he came at it with Stormbreaker again and again.  


He tried his best to remember how Thanos’s armour sat on his body, which points were vulnerable to attack. He mimed strikes at all of those points from various angles. Again, and again. Faster and faster. Sweat dripped from him. He grew tired and hungry but would not pause for a break.  


Eventually, he grew so fatigued that he messed up. He mistimed a swing and cut the wardrobe clean down the middle. The two separate sides thudded to the floor.  


Thor had almost forgot what a powerful weapon Stormbreaker was. Perhaps he could use it to get out oh here, damn Loki for expecting him to wait!  


He called up all his strength and rushed at the door, striking it with a blow so fierce that he was knocked across the room and into the table. When he got to his feet, Stormbreaker was on the floor a few feet away. There was a gaping hole in the door.  


He approached with caution. Through the broken door he could see more white space. Gingerly, he placed his hand in the hole. He felt nothing. That was potentially positive – the white space did not hurt him. But, as far as he could tell, there was nothing tangible to it. It was not clear either way what venturing out into the whiteness would do to him.  


There was a most peculiar noise behind his back. He turned to see the wardrobe fitting itself back together. He heard the same noise again and snapped his head back round to see that the door was also repairing itself. He had to snatch his hand away to avoid it being swallowed by the wood.  


“Dammit, Loki!”  


He had had enough of this. He stormed out onto the balcony to scream vaguely in the direction of his brother.  


“You!” He jabbed a finger at the crumbling Asgard copy. “You come back at once or I will come over there and get you!”  


He held for a moment just in case the threat had worked. But Loki did not appear.  


“So be it!”  


He got as far back as he could for a better run up, then he rushed towards the edge of the balcony. He planted one foot on top of the balustrade with the intention of springing over it. Something slapped against his stomach.  


Thor stumbled backwards. His hands went to his sore abdomen. When he looked up, Loki was stood by the balustrade. The arm he had used to stop Thor was still in the air.  


“Are you honestly that stupid?”  


Thor straightened himself up. “You trapped me here!”  


“I left for a very short period of time so we could both have some space; I did not foresee you destroying your room with an axe and flinging yourself off a balcony!”  


“Well, you should have!”  


Loki made a noise of disgust and turned away.  


Calmer now, Thor took a few steps towards him. “Are you staying now, or are you going back out there?”  


Loki looked at him over his shoulder. Without turning back, he waved a hand. All of Asgard: the buildings, the plants, even the sky, melted away into nothingness. The whiteness was all that was left.  


“Nowhere to go now. Guess I’m staying.”  


The destruction – if vanishing something that never truly existed could be called destruction – disturbed Thor. He did not care for what it implied about his brother’s mental state. He approached him with caution.  


Loki did not move, not even when Thor came to rest a hand on his lower back.  


“I’m sorry for how I reacted when you… before you left.”  


Loki shrugged. “It was a foolish whim.”  


“Where did it even come from?”  


“The others.”  


Thor waited for Loki to elaborate. They were stood in silence for several minutes before Loki turned to face him properly.  


“You are not the first Thor that I brought here.”  


Thor swallowed. “How many?”  


Loki shrugged. “Dozens. My theory is that it’s easier to call an existing Thor to me than it is to recreate my own.” He stared out into the whiteness. “They were all so different. Some had been pulled from the midst of a great battle; some had been relaxing at home with mother. Some rushed at me in anger; some had no idea who I was. The last one – the one before you – he embraced me, called me brother, and then kissed me passionately.”  


Thor shuffled on his feet; he had no idea what to do with his body. “What happened to them?”  


“I sent them all back. Most of them stayed long enough for a conversation – I was curious about their universes. But I had no desire to keep any of them, none of them were anything like my Thor.”  


“But I was?”  


He nodded. “For a moment, I thought I’d done it. It was only when I came close enough to see your eyes that I realised. But I loved you as though you were him. And all the time in the back of my head was the knowledge that, in another universe, we were lovers.”  


Thor let that sink in. Loki had kept him over all the others because he was the most like his Thor. No wonder his feelings towards him had become so messed up.  


As for the version of them that became lovers, who knew how different their lives were? He and Loki had always been close, deeply wrapped up in each other and so physically intimate. It was not such a stretch of the imagination that somewhere, in another universe, that intimacy had deepened. A lingering touch here; a heavy gaze there; one brother finally growing bold enough to risk everything.  


Loki went on. “As I said, it was foolish. I shan’t touch you again, I swear.”  


This dismayed Thor. Being able to hold Loki again had been all that kept him going these last few days. He took hold of both of Loki’s arms. “No! Loki I… we have always been physically affectionate. Why should that change?”  


“Because it has changed. It’s tainted now. It would no longer be innocent.”  


There was no way that Thor would stand for that. His hand went to that one spot on Loki’s neck almost as a reflex. The most natural thing in the world. He took to rubbing the edge of Loki’s jaw with his thumb.  


“Nothing has to change, it can still be innocent. I just need to touch you, Loki.”  


The suggestiveness of that last sentence was not lost on Thor. He was suddenly aware that the expression on Loki’s face was the same as when he kissed him. His eyes followed Loki’s tongue as it darted out to wet his lips. The way that the corner of Loki’s mouth quirked up told him that this had not gone unnoticed.  


Loki leant in. Was he going to kiss him again? Thor vowed that he would not freeze this time. This time he would…  


Loki opened his mouth to speak. Whatever he asked of him, Thor would do it.  


“We should go inside, brother.” With that, he walked away.  


Thor trailed behind him. His brother had forgone a cape, favouring more casual, form-fitting attire. Had he always walked like that? Or was he aware of Thor’s eyes upon him?  


Back indoors, Loki turned to him. He gestured at the mostly empty table. It was suddenly overflowing with food, all of Thor’s favourites.  


Thor saw this all from the corner of his eye; he could not turn from his brother to look.  


“Hungry, brother?”  


Thor’s mouth was too dry to answer. With an effort, he shook his head.  


Loki smiled. “Perhaps you would like to spar with me? I could conjure us some weapons, but I think hand-to-hand would be more fun. We could test out your theory about our touches still being innocent.”  


Thor grew impatient. He strode forward and put his hand on his brother’s hip. Loki smacked it away. Then he struck out at Thor. Thor caught his wrist, twisting it not enough to hurt but enough that Loki could not easily snatch it back. When Loki attacked with his left hand, he grabbed that one too. Then he pulled on both arms, using the momentum to slam their bodies together.  


Loki barked out a delighted laugh.  


Their faces were now inches apart. Loki glanced down at Thor’s mouth before looking up to lock eyes with him. He leaned in. Thor closed his eyes and parted his lips.  


“I seem to recall that the last time I kissed you did not end so well for me.”  


Thor’s eyes shot open. Loki's face told him that this was not a scolding, just further brotherly teasing. “You wish me to apologise again?”  


Loki seemed to consider his answer for a moment. Then he leaned up to whisper in Thor’s ear.  


“Depends what form your apology takes…” His lips brushed against the side of Thor’s face as he added, “…brother.”  


Thor’s stomach clenched and his cock twitched. He leant back enough to kiss his brother. The force of it bent Loki’s head back at an awkward angle.  


Loki made a noise of protest before stumbling back out of reach. There was a beat, and then he was laughing. For one horrible moment, Thor thought it a prank – a trick by Loki to embarrass him in the same way he’d been embarrassed earlier. But then, Loki turned and made his way towards the bed.  


Loki’s clothes began to vanish as he went, but not in the usual way. Instead, piece by piece, they melted into liquid and slid from his body. Thor had to take care to avoid the puddles as he followed.  


Thor attempted to remove his own clothing, but his fingers were clumsy, and they were not helped by his refusal to look away from Loki’s naked back for even a second.  


When Loki reached the side of the bed and turned, he raised an eyebrow at Thor’s lack of nudity.  


Thor made a vague gesture. “Do mine too.”  


As Loki laughed at him, Thor’s clothes melted off in the same way. The sensation it caused had Thor shivering. His cock throbbed between his legs.  


Loki widened his stance and held his arms aloft, proudly displaying himself.  


“Now you see me brother.”  


Thor’s hands went straight to Loki’s hips. He pulled him forward until they were kissing again.  


He did his best not to break the kiss as he turned them both. He pulled Loki down with him as he sat on the edge of the bed. Loki climbed into his lap.  


Thor’s hands roamed his brother’s back, then slipped down to cup his arse with both hands. He lifted and twisted, depositing his brother on his back on the bed.  


Thor took to kissing along Loki’s jawline. He licked a stripe along his neck. He sucked on Loki’s nipples as he writhed beneath him. Then he continued to kiss his way down. He took his brother into his mouth, delighting at the little cries that this elicited. Loki’s hips thrust upwards and his fingers slid through Thor’s too-short hair.  


Thor pulled off before he finished him. He climbed up to kneel on the bed. Loki copied him.  


Loki’s cheeks were flushed. It seemed an effort for him to control his breathing long enough to speak.  


“How would you have this proceed?”  


In truth, Thor knew exactly what he wanted but he made a show of considering it. He meant to draw it out, let the anticipation build. And he thought it prudent to give Loki a little time to recover.  


He lay down on the bed, resting his head on the pillows. He brought his knees up and spread his legs as wide as he could.  


Loki finally lost his composure as he took in the sight. His mouth dropped open and he released a noise somewhere between a gasp and a groan. Then he righted himself and crawled between his brother’s spread legs.  


“Oh, brother,” Loki peppered kisses across Thor’s chest before leaning down to nudge his nose with his own, “Apology accepted.”  


*  


_Thor dreamed of ashes.  
_

_He saw everyone around him crumble on the battlefield in Wakanda.  
_

_On the Ark, Thanos stood triumphant, his raised fist clad in the gauntlet.  
_

_The gauntlet closed around Loki’s neck, squeezing tighter and tighter.  
_

_Loki’s body, cast aside, crumbled into dust. _  
__

Thor woke to darkness. It took him a minute to shake off the effects of the dream. It would have helped to have Loki beside him, but his brother was gone.  


They had fallen asleep together, Loki collapsing onto his chest after that final bout of lovemaking. Evidently, Loki had risen before him and ventured out. He must have allowed it to remain dark so as not to disturb Thor.  


He climbed out of bed. Every movement caused a delicious ache in his body, reminding him of how thoroughly he had been put to use.  


His destination was the table where a few scraps of food remained. When they had recovered from the first time, the brothers had descended upon the feast, demolishing it in a way that would have brought a proud tear to the eye of Volstagg.  


There was not much left. Thor made do with a hunk of bread. He could always ask Loki for something more substantial once he reappeared.  


As Thor chewed, he became aware that the light was changing. This was not the enhanced sunrise of the previous morning; the light grew brighter, then dimmer, then back again. When he turned to the balcony to investigate, he caught sight of his brother’s silhouette. He approached quietly, not wanting to interrupt whatever Loki was doing.  


The terrible whiteness had been replaced with a vast night sky. Loki stood facing outwards. Before him, the stars grew and shrank, they danced around each other in varying patterns. Loki was orchestrating it, of course. His arms were out, leading the movement of the stars. Something on his hand caught the light for a moment. Was he wearing jewellery?  


Thor came closer.  


Loki – on a romantic whim, perhaps – enhanced the crescent moon, making it bigger, bringing it closer and bathing the balcony in moonlight.  


The next time that Loki raised his arms, Thor saw it clearly.  


Loki wore the gauntlet.


	4. Well Now Sorrow, it Comes A-Stealing

“Loki?”  


Loki’s whole body stiffened. He snatched his arms back to his chest. There was a beat, then he span round, rictus grin on his face. His arms were open, his hands bare.  


“Awake so soon, brother? I must not have worn you out as sufficiently as I thought.”  


Thor kept his eyes on Loki’s hands, right up until they were being pressed against his chest. Loki leaned up to plant a brief kiss on his lips.  


“Take me to bed, Thor.”  


He could have. He really could have. Maybe there was yet another universe in which Thor allowed Loki to seduce him into complacency. Where they made love until he was too exhausted to think. When he awoke the next morning, he could convince himself that the gauntlet was naught but a dream. It would all be so easy.  


Thor was never one for the easier path.  


He pulled Loki’s hand from his chest and examined it. It appeared perfectly normal. Loki’s long, slim fingers curled around his own.  


He glanced at Loki’s face. Too late, Loki schooled his worried expression, returning to the false grin.  


“I saw it, Loki.”  


Loki, as always, had to try his luck just one more time. He grinned, though his eyes were wet. “Saw what?”  


Thor dropped his brother’s hand and took hold of his neck. “Cease this foolishness, I know you possess the gauntlet.”  


Loki’s eyes fell shut. There was a shimmer, the usual green glow of his seiðr, and then the gauntlet returned to his hand.  


The sight of it did something to Thor. His fingers tightened on Loki’s throat as a reflex. It was only for a second – the resulting gasp from Loki bringing him back to his senses – but the memories shot through Thor.  


_Thanos’s hand, wearing the gauntlet, choking the life from his brother. _  
__

__Thor let go, stumbling back. He bent double, resting his palms on his thighs as he tried to catch his breath.  
_ _

__Loki approached holding up a placating hand – the one not currently attached to the deadliest weapon in all the universes.  
_ _

__When he touched his shoulder, Thor sprang up, knocking him away.  
_ _

__“Do not dare touch me!”  
_ _

__Loki at least had the good sense to give Thor some space.  
_ _

__Thor managed to get his breathing down to a semi-normal rate. He leaned back against the wall – only to jerk forward as the cold stone met his naked backside. A pair of loose-fitting sleep pants materialised on his lower half. If that was Loki’s attempt at an apology, then he was going to have to do a lot better.  
_ _

__Thor fixed his brother with a glare. “How could you?”  
_ _

__“Literally? Hela tore Thanos to pieces. She would have taken the gauntlet for herself and doomed us all had Surtur not popped up at that exact moment. She looked away for just long enough.”  
_ _

__Thor made a noise not unlike a growl. “You know that’s not what I meant!”  
_ _

__Loki shrugged. “I’ve always been an opportunist. I could not just leave such a powerful tool.”  
_ _

__Thor stepped towards him. “You are immensely fortunate that Hela killed your Thor before he found out. He would have…”  
_ _

__Loki’s face fell so dramatically it was almost audible. Fresh tears sprang to his eyes. Grief for his brother? Or was there something else in play here?  
_ _

__“What happened to your Thor? Did he truly die by Hela’s hand?”  
_ _

__Loki did not look at him. His eyes were not even focused. He stared off into the distant plains of his memory.  
_ _

__“She wounded him, gravely. But I got us both out of there. He was angry when he saw the gauntlet, but only for a second. Then he was begging – or, rather, ordering – me to use it to save Asgard.”  
_ _

__Finally, his gaze found Thor. He held up the gauntlet. “Do you know what I had to do to gain the remaining gems?” He pointed them out as he spoke. “This one, I ripped from the head of that colourful robot thing you and your friends made. For this one, I killed that fool Midgardian wizard. And this one, this is the soul gem. That was the one that we went to get first.”  
_ _

__“You killed for that one, too?”  
_ _

__Loki’s grin was unhinged. Tears slipped down his face. “For this gem, one needs to sacrifice a person whom they truly love.”  
_ _

__Well, that could only mean one person. He had an image of the other Thor begging for his life, attempting to stop Loki. Or, perhaps, Loki had done the relatively decent thing and caught Thor unawares, killing him quickly.  
_ _

__“Did I… did he suffer?”  
_ _

__“Oh no, he had me do that for him. He really expected me to do it without a second thought. He really thought that little of me. He was angry when I wouldn’t. I told him we should give Asgard up for lost and start again, just the two of us. He was disgusted with me. Do you know what he said? That I had the opportunity to use my evil for good and I truly had no decency left if I did not take it.”  
_ _

__That had not been what Thor was expecting. He cursed his other self for putting his brother through such an ordeal, even if it had been for a good cause. Thor placed a comforting hand on Loki's arm. “So, you did it?”  
_ _

__“What choice did he give me? I don’t know if he knew that I was going to have to kill more people for the rest of the gems. By that stage he seemed incapable of thinking about anything outside of saving Asgard.”  
_ _

__Thor squeezed his arm to get his attention. “But you did not save Asgard. You made this place instead.”  
_ _

__Loki looked around at his fake world, as though noticing it for the first time. “I tried reversing time first. Something always went wrong. I couldn’t do it with any degree of accuracy. Sometimes I popped up in the midst of Ragnarok; other times in the middle of Thanos and Hela and had to dodge both of them. I saw Asgard fall so many times. You’ve been torturing yourself for failing once, I failed a hundred times,  
_ _

__“Once I gave up on time travel, I thought I could recreate everything instead. You know how that went: I set about building this place only to get stuck on your rooms; I tried to bring my Thor back but instead got countless others. I cannot get a handle on these powers, not while my mind is so…” Loki’s shoulders sagged. “All the power in the universe, and I am still so impotent.”  
_ _

__Loki made for a pretty pathetic sight. Thor reached up to brush his tears away with his knuckles.  
_ _

__“It’s okay, brother. You no longer have to struggle alone.” He kissed Loki’s forehead. “I am here; we can set things right, together.”  
_ _

__Loki peered up at him, his eyes full of hope. “You will stay here with me?”  
_ _

__“What? No. Loki, this place is not real. I mean for us to…”  
_ _

__Loki was already backing away from him. Thor pressed on.  
_ _

__“Come with me to my universe, help me defeat Thanos there.”  
_ _

__Loki shook his head. “I cannot, Thor, I’ve already demonstrated that my control over this wretched gauntlet is inconsistent. Add to that the fact that its influence in universes other than its own is extremely limited. Plus,” Here Loki smirked, “if I am going to save a universe, I should probably start with my own.”  
_ _

__“If you will not come with me then at least put me back like you promised.”  
_ _

__The smirk turned into a scowl. “Do you really wish to go back to the universe in which I am dead?”  
_ _

__Thor rolled his eyes. It was so like Loki to take everything personally. “Billions of people have died, Loki, I would not sacrifice them so that we could be together.”  
_ _

__Loki shrugged. “Why not? I would. Furthermore, I would kill them all myself if it meant that I could be with you. Then I’d just cross my fingers and hope you forgave me eventually.”  
_ _

__“I never would.”  
_ _

__“I could live with that, so long as you lived too!” Loki turned away, moving to lean over the balcony. The way his shoulders were shaking told Thor that he was weeping.  
_ _

__Thor came to stand at his brother’s side. He took a second to look over the balcony. There was no white space this time, just an endless night sky. He found himself wondering if it really went on for ever. He leaned back against the balustrade to face his brother. Gently, he tilted Loki's chin up with a finger.  
_ _

__Loki’s face was a mess. “How can you leave me?”  
_ _

__“Because it is the right thing to do. I think you know it is too.”  
_ _

__Loki shook him off and took a step back, putting some distance between them.  
_ _

__“I could keep you here against your will, you know I could. Sure, you could reject or even ignore me, but you wouldn’t hold out for ever. If I left you on your own again – for a much longer period this time – you would drive yourself so crazy that you would welcome me back with open arms when I finally deigned to return. You forget, brother, what a cruel, selfish creature I can be, but I will make you remember. I will… what the fuck are you doing?!”  
_ _

__Thor had had enough of his brother’s empty threats. He knew that the only way to cut through one of Loki’s grand villain speeches was with a sudden, shocking action. With that in mind, he hoisted himself up and tumbled backwards from the balcony.  
_ _

__He saw Loki’s face appear over the balustrade, heard him scream his name. The thought occurred to him that this must have been what Loki saw as he tumbled into the void all those years ago. Except, of course, that Thor did not believe that he was falling to his death. Any moment now, Loki was bound to save him. But Loki was not moving, and he was getting so far away. This might not have been the best idea he had ever had.  
_ _

__Loki was suddenly gone from the balcony. Where would he have gone? Had simply grown bored of watching his fool brother falling into nothingness?  
_ _

__Thor landed suddenly in his brother’s arms.  
_ _

__They hovered where they were for a moment. Loki’s expression was one that Thor remembered fondly from their youth: that of a younger brother forced once again to step in and rescue his idiot older brother who acted on impulse and got himself into the most ridiculous scrapes.  
_ _

__Full of the warmth of nostalgia, Thor smiled up at him. The corner of Loki’s mouth quirked up before he could stop himself. Then he looked away and began their ascent.  
_ _

__Their flight was at a much faster pace than Thor’s fall. Thor had never been in this position before, that of the one being carried during a flight. It was soothing, allowing himself to be taken care of in such a manner.  
_ _

__He worried for a moment when they passed the balcony. Then, to his surprise and delight, Loki deposited him on the inside curve of the crescent moon before dropping down beside him.  
_ _

__Thor peered down into the blackness. It was dizzying to think of how far he had fallen, and how much further he could have gone.  
_ _

__“Suddenly afraid of heights, brother?” Loki’s smirk was back, a much friendlier one this time.  
_ _

__Thor gestured to the moon on which they sat. “Suddenly have a romantic side, brother?”  
_ _

__Loki shuffled closer. He nudged at Thor’s arm until it lifted, then he settled against his side.  
_ _

__“I knew I couldn’t keep you for ever. I just wanted to make it last for as long as I could.”  
_ _

__Thor squeezed his brother’s shoulders, nuzzling into his hair. He could not blame Loki for that; it was going to pain Thor to leave him as much as it was going to pain Loki to be left.  
_ _

__Loki sat up. “So, what is your plan for when I send you back?”  
_ _

__Thor shrugged, prompting an eyeroll and a muttered, _‘Oh, of course!’ _from his brother. “Can you put me back at an earlier point?”  
_ _ __

__

__Loki considered. “Yes, but it wouldn’t be by much.”  
_ _

__“It wouldn’t need to be. Just before I struck Thanos with Stormbreaker, I’ll aim for his head this time.”  
_ _

__“That should be fairly straightforward.”  
_ _

__Thor felt better now that he had a plan in place. But what of his brother?  
_ _

__“What will you do?”  
_ _

__It was Loki’s turn to shrug. “I’ve been thinking of that ever since you got here. I could attempt to play it all out like you did, defeat Hela together with my brother. That still leaves Thanos, though.”  
_ _

__“We’ll defeat him together, too.”  
_ _

__“Not ‘we’, me and him. That’s assuming I could get him to work with me at all.” Loki sighed and smoothed down his hair. “You and your Loki were truly reconciled?”  
_ _

__“Truly. You should have seen him descend from the mist in his heroic pose. The saviour of Asgard. My brother.” Thor’s smile faded when he saw how miserable Loki looked. “I’m sure your Thor will welcome you back. I cannot imagine a version of me that does not love you.”  
_ _

__“I met them, remember? And you did not see how he looked upon me as he ordered his own death. I have no idea if I can even face him again.”  
_ _

__Cogs were whirring in Thor’s mind. It felt as though he had stumbled upon an important piece of the puzzle.  
_ _

__“That’s why you haven’t been able to fix things!”  
_ _

__Loki looked over at him, eyebrow raised quizzically.  
_ _

__“Your failed time travel attempts and your failure to restore Asgard, that all comes from your reluctance to face your Thor again.”  
_ _

__“You really do talk some utter sh-”  
_ _

__“Think on it! Instead of recreating him, you pulled other versions of us from different realities. It’s because you were searching for a Thor who definitely loved you.”  
_ _

__The disgusted groan that Loki let out told Thor that he had struck a nerve.  
_ _

__Loki sighed again. “Thor, are you suggesting that I put multiple universes in jeopardy because I thought my big brother no longer loved me?”  
_ _

__“Does that not sound exactly like something you would do?”  
_ _

__Instead of answering, Loki conjured a large goblet into his hand. Thor could not help but chuckle at him as he drained it. When he was finished, Loki flung the goblet from the moon.  
_ _

__“What, exactly, am I supposed to do with this revelation?”  
_ _

__Thor had been watching the goblet’s descent. He stopped to turn to his brother. “You do better this time. You actually face him. He’ll forgive you, Loki, he’s me.”  
_ _

__Loki did not look even remotely certain of that.  
_ _

__“We have time, you know. We could stretch this out for infinity, everything would still be as we left it.”  
_ _

__“Loki…”  
_ _

__Loki was quiet for a few minutes. Thor looked down to see if the goblet were still visible, there was a tiny golden speck far below them. Thor could not articulate why it made him sad.  
_ _

__At his side, Loki spoke. “One more day?”  
_ _

__Thor reached over to cradle his neck. “One more day, brother.”  
_ _

__He pulled Loki to him, carefully, lest one or both of them lose their balance. As their lips met, a tear Thor had not known was coming slipped from the corner of his sole blue eye.  
_ _

__The two brothers sat kissing in the moon against a backdrop of infinite stars._ _


	5. Gone are the Nights of Swinging from the Stars

By the time the brothers made it back to bed, they were too tired to do anything but hold each other until they fell asleep.  


They made up for it when they awoke.  


Then followed the most indulgent day of their lives (no mean feat for two spoiled princes); their lovemaking paused only for wine and food.  


Loki – presumably due to a great deal of his energy being expended elsewhere – had left the sky as it was. There was no way to mark the time save their own internal body clocks.  


As a sweaty Thor collapsed onto the bed for a final time, it occurred to him that it must surely be night by now. He meant to ask Loki. But Loki – despite having been flat on his back whilst Thor rode him – appeared to be even more exhausted than himself.  


They lay there, separately panting and sweating for several minutes. Finally, most of the sweat had evaporated and Thor was cold. Instead of reaching for a blanket, he pulled his brother to him. Loki muttered a complaint under his breath but still allowed himself to be moved. He settled his head on Thor’s chest.  


Thus far, there had been no talk of the future. Thor was loath to be the one to break that - apparently mutual - silent agreement but there was something about which he was curious.  


“When you have your Thor back, do you think you’ll… will the two of you…”  


Loki let out an exasperated huff that Thor felt ghost across his chest. “Am I going to fuck my brother?”  


Thor winced.  


Loki propped himself up on his arms, still leaning on Thor’s chest. “Why? Are you really such a jealous creature that you cannot bear the thought of another Thor getting his hands on me?”  


“Forget I asked.”  


“No, no, that deserves a serious answer.” He paused a moment. “Thor, this has been… cathartic. It’s helped with the grief and the guilt – for both of us, I’d say. But, I do wonder if this is something best left in an alternate dimension where there are no real consequences for our actions.”  


“You think so?”  


“Would you do this with your Loki?”  


Thor had to think. Suggesting an incestuous affair to his Loki would most certainly end with a knife between his ribs. His Loki could very easily take Thor’s amorous advances as a sign that Thor no longer thought of them as brothers, or perhaps as an attempt to put Loki in his place. He had often taken him for granted in his youth – would Loki see it as more of the same? Thor wanting a convenient instrument for his pleasure? It saddened for to think of it but, it was all academic now, wasn’t it?  


Loki seemed to take Thor’s silence as an answer. He pressed on, his tone becoming lighter.  


“Anyway, when I do get him back, we’re not going to be on fantastic terms straight away. I might leave it a while before I try to suck his dick.” He continued, spurred on by Thor’s laughter. “Or perhaps I’ll just stroll up to him, say a quick ‘sorry for the last few years’ and drop to my knees. It would be worth it just for the look on his face.” Thor was practically in hysterics now. “He’ll probably snap my neck!”  


The laughter died in Thor’s throat. He suddenly found himself unable to breathe.  


Loki slid off his chest. He propped himself up on both arms.  


“Fuck, Thor, I’m sorry, I wasn't thinking.” He brought a hand to the side of Thor’s face. “Shh, it’s fine, I’m here.”  


As his eyes locked with those of his brother, Thor found himself calming down. Slowly but surely, his breathing returned to its normal rate.  


Loki pressed a kiss to his forehead, then dropped down onto his side. He reached down to entwine his fingers with Thor’s.  


Once he had the breath back to speak, all Thor could think to say was. “I am going to kill him.”  


Loki squeezed his hand. “I know you are.”  


Loki tensed beside him. Thor waited for him to say whatever it was that he was building up to.  


“What will you do with the gauntlet?”  


Thor turned onto his side. “You think I’d take it for myself?”  


“Why wouldn’t you? You’d be able to save the people Thanos killed: the Asgardians; Heimdall; me. It would be selfish not to.”  


“It should be destroyed as soon as possible, save it falling into the wrong hands again.”  


“And how, exactly, would you do that?”  


A shrug was the best answer that Thor could give.  


“At least think about using it.”  


Thor doubted that it was as simple as Loki suggested. Loki himself had had great difficulty in setting things right with the gauntlet. Yes, a good deal of that was due to Loki’s own issues but Thor was not without his own problems – might they get in the way in the same manner?  


Loki did not appear to be waiting for an answer, having apparently already moved on mentally. His eyes were downcast. He did not look at Thor as he spoke.  


“In the morning, when you want to go, just pick up Stormbreaker.”  


Thor thought he knew what that meant.  


Loki rolled away from him to lie on his back. He stared up at the ceiling.  


If Thor was right about what was coming in the morning, he did not want things to end this way. He shuffled closer to his brother. He pressed his head to Loki’s chest to listen to his heartbeat one last time.  


*  


Thor was not at all surprised to wake up alone.  


He dressed – in a fresh, clean version of the outfit he had been wearing that day.  


On the table was the lightest of breakfasts. Thor helped himself to grapes with a smile.  


He did not blame Loki for not wanting to face another goodbye. Perhaps he had moved on already, back to his own universe and his own brother. He hoped that they could work things out.  


Still, Thor would have liked a goodbye kiss.  


As instructed, he picked up Stormbreaker. On a whim, he stepped out onto the balcony for a final time. The crescent moon still hung in the sky. He could picture the two of them still sitting within it. He directed his whispered plea there.  


“Be happy, Loki.” He closed his eyes. “I am ready.”  


The air whooshed around him.  


He opened his eyes to the sunshine of Wakanda.  


The battle was still raging. Or, rather, it would have been had time not been frozen.  


Thor took a few careful steps through the frozen scene. He could see his friends fighting back the alien hoards. The hoard themselves, finally being beaten back. When he turned his head, he could see the corpses that he had put on the ground immediately after his arrival. He knew when this was: it must have been the moment when he left the main fight to find Thanos.  


He knew where to find him. This time, he knew exactly what to do.  


At first, he walked, thinking he had all the time in the world. As he did so, the creatures around him began to move ever so slightly. Time was unfreezing. He broke into a run. By the time he was at full pace, time had been properly restored. The battle raged around him.  


Calling on the powers of the Bifrost via Stormbreaker, he shot into the air.  


Thanos, of course, was in the same clearing where Thor had found him last time. Thor saw him raise the gauntlet, completely unaware of what was about to happen to him.  


This time – as instructed by the fool himself – Thor aimed for the head.  


He brought Stormbreaker down on Thanos’s skull, cleaving it straight down the middle.  


The titan fell to his knees. The axe was wedged in the top of his armour and could go no further. Thor had to brace a foot against Thanos’s chest to yank it out. The force of the motion sent the corpse tumbling backwards.  


Thor stood over him. The body was still twitching. Thor – wary of being caught out again – raised Stormbreaker and brought it down on Thanos’s left arm. Now that the gauntlet was separated from his body, Thor felt safe in taking a moment to look Thanos in the eyes. They were still rolling around in the bifurcated head; Thor hoped that meant that there was still some consciousness there.  


“That was for my friend; my people and my Loki.”  


He turned and walked away, picking up the gauntlet as he did so.  


The first thing he did was deal with the grisly business of getting rid of the severed hand. It took some effort to pull it out. He flung it behind him without looking. He thought he heard it land near the rest of the corpse.  


Loki’s words came back to him. Could he really bring back everyone he had lost? It felt like cheating to do so but he had been cheated out of so much lately, surely it was fine for him to balance the scales a little – so long as he destroyed the thing afterwards. But, what of the loved ones that everyone else had lost? Could he really be so selfish as to fix things for himself but then deny anyone else the opportunity? And how far back could he go exactly? If he saved everyone who had been on the Ark, could he not go back and prevent Ragnarok altogether? Could he go even further and save his mother? Prevent Loki from ever attacking New York? It was all too much, he did not know where to begin.  


“Norns, watching someone struggle with questions of morality never ceases to be tedious.”  


Thor froze. There was no mistaking that voice – or those words. He turned to look for his brother.  


Loki stood in an oval of empty white space, the gauntlet on his hand.  


Thor took a few cautious steps towards him. “Why are you not in your own universe?”  


Loki shrugged. “Thought you might need a hand saving yours. Bring the gauntlet.”  


Thor was not sure if the thing before him was a portal, or just a tear in the fabric of the universe. Whatever it was, his brother was on the other side. He stepped through.  


“I missed you this morning.”  


“Well, you know my feelings on sentiment.”  


Thor smiled. “Yes, I think I finally do.”  


Loki looked away for a second before righting himself. “Right, back to business. Put your gauntlet on.”  


Thor’s eye flitted between the gauntlet and his brother. “Just what do you have planned?”  


Loki bobbed on his feet, a manic grin on his face. “Only a fiendishly clever idea which will either save both our universes or destroy reality itself. As you can imagine, I am quite excited by the prospect.”  


The gauntlet was obviously too big for Thor. He had meant to ask Loki how he had shrunk his own but had never got around to it. He was certain that the answer would have been an eye roll and an _‘it's magic, Thor’ _anyway. As it turned out, when he slipped the gauntlet on, the thing just adjusted itself to fit him. He held up his hand to show Loki.  
__

____

“Very good!” He strode forward, his own hand raised. “Now, this is the part that might make the universe implode so… buckle up?” Loki reached forward and touched his gauntlet to the one worn by Thor.  


“What are we doing exactly?”  


“Looking for other universes.”  


They stood palm to palm. For a moment, nothing happened. Then there was a rush inside Thor’s brain.  


He saw…everything. Stars, planets, solar systems, galaxies. None of which belonged to the universe that he called home. Somewhere in the midst of all those visions, he could feel Loki; they were linked somehow, seeing the same things.  


The images came at Thor in an endless rush. It was worse than when he had been on Sakaar about to meet the Grandmaster. For a moment, he was certain that he was going to pass out. Loki’s voice pulled him back from the brink.  


“Thor, we need something to focus on. Look for us; look for versions of ourselves.”  


Thor did so.  


He saw himself – long haired and blue eyed – sitting on the throne of Asgard. His brother stood at his side, looking happier and healthier than he had seen him in years.  


He saw himself getting married to a beautiful Jotun of a height with himself. He did not realise who it was until he heard the vows being spoken _‘I, Loki of Jotunheim, do hereby pledge to you my undying fidelity’ _. Presiding over the ceremony was Hela, of all people.__  


There were versions where they were married and sat upon twin thrones in Asgard. Versions where the newlyweds lived in Jotunheim whilst Hela ruled at home.  


Thor saw the two of them fighting atop a frozen rock. On opposite sides of an endless war.  


He saw a tiny, Jotun baby die of exposure before Odin could find him. He felt Loki’s wince. Thor held out his right hand and blindly groped for his brother’s. Loki slipped his hand into his.  


In so many universes they were raised as brothers. He saw them rule together; saw Loki grow bitter and vengeful; saw them fight; saw them make peace.  


He saw Loki held up against a wall, legs wrapped around his brother’s waist. He saw himself bent over his own throne whilst Loki fucked him from behind.  


In a universe which must have been fairly close to their own, the brothers slew the Grandmaster and ruled in his stead.  


Thor saw Loki sitting cross legged in his rooms on Sakaar, projecting himself in order to commune with Thanos. He saw him leave for Asgard, watched as Hela and Thanos tore chunks out of each other. Saw Loki swipe the gauntlet.  


Then, the two of them in a place he did not recognise. Thor angry and determined, a desperate Loki in floods of tears. He realised what he was watching a moment before Loki conjured a knife and killed his brother: the trade for the soul stone.  


A now stony-faced Loki placed the gem in the gauntlet and walked away.  


Next came Thor’s own universe: the revolt on Sakaar; stealing the ship; fighting Hela; causing Ragnarok; fleeing on the Ark. Then Thanos. Loki’s death. Thor crawling towards his dead body. Cradling him.  


Thor’s eyes burst open. His breath was coming thick and fast.  


Loki was there with him.  


“Thor, ssh, it’s okay. I’m here. We’re going to set everything right.”  


Thor focused on his brother to calm himself. “What are we going to do?”  


Loki’s smile contained an extreme amount of smugness even by his standards. “We, dear brother, are going to destroy Thanos and this wretched gauntlet across infinite universes.”  


Well, if that idea worked, Loki’s smugness was more than earned.  


“How do we find Thanos?”  


“We cannot, that’ll be too difficult. We can only focus in on things that are already here: that’s why I told you to focus on us.”  


Thor considered this for a second. “So, we look for the gauntlet?”  


That earned him a warm smile from his brother. He nodded. “Yes, my clever brother. If we can find Thanos whilst he is wearing the gauntlet, we can destroy them both at once. Close your eyes, Thor.”  


After the trial run of finding themselves, it was almost easy to move through the universes picking out infinity gauntlets. With each one, it was merely a matter of concentrating their will upon it until it exploded, taking Thanos with it.  


They could, of course, move through time as well as space. They found the Thanos of Loki’s universe several minutes before Loki had appeared with his false plan of gaining him the tesseract. In Thor’s universe, they found him aboard his ship on his way to destroy the planet Xandar.  


It had filled Thor with immense glee to split the head of the mad Titan in Wakanda. With each version that he and Loki decimated, he became happier and happier. He was practically beaming by the time he opened his eyes. The expression on Loki’s face brought him straight back down to earth with a bump.  


“What’s wrong?”  


Loki’s eyes were wet. When he spoke, his sorrow was audible. “Thor, there are still two gauntlets left to destroy.”  


Thor looked down to where their hands were pressed together. Outside of time and space, their gauntlets remained. Thor swallowed.  


“What will happen to us when we do it?”  


“We should be fine. If I am right, we will go back to our respective universes.”  


That was good news, of course; it was what they both wanted. And yet…  


“So, this is goodbye?”  


Loki nodded. His tears finally began to fall. He made a visible effort to control himself.  


Thor squeezed his hand. “We did it, Loki. All is well. You came through as I said you would. You get a second chance with your brother, as I do with mine.”  


“I know, I know.” The words came out choked. “Do one thing for me? Kiss your Loki. He will have wanted it for years but not realise until you do it.”  


Thor smiled. His own tear reached the corner of his mouth. He tasted salt.  


“Find your Thor, love him any way he will allow. Know that he loves you too, no matter what.” He swallowed. “Know that I love you.”  


He pulled Loki to him for the goodbye kiss he had missed that morning. The taste of salt again; Loki’s tears mingling with his own.  


Loki pulled away first. His eyes were huge as he looked up at Thor.  


“In any universe, brother.”  


Thor planted another quick kiss on his lips. “In all of them.”  


Loki nodded. Determination came over his face. He took a step back from Thor. There palms were still together.  


“Now, you concentrate on mine as I concentrate on yours. It has to be at exactly the same time or else it will not work.”  


Thor focused on the gauntlet in front of him. The mental connection that he shared with Loki was still in place. He could feel his brother focusing on the other gauntlet. Linked as they were, they were able to shatter them at the same time.  


The force of it blew them apart. Thor found himself falling. He was upright yet, somehow, tumbling downward. He lost sight of Loki.  


There was a ringing in his ears. His vision was completely overcome with whiteness.  


Thor closed his eyes.  


He fell.


	6. For I am Captured, Once Again

Thor fell forwards, catching himself on his forearms against a… window pane? Wherever he was, it was night time – the sky black and full of stars. He could see nothing else: no skyline, no scenery. So, not a night sky, but, rather, the infinite stretch of space. For a moment, he thought he was back on the balcony in Loki’s faux Asgard but that would not make any sense.  


There was a hand on his shoulder, someone was softly saying his name. He turned.  


Loki. No gauntlet, no tears, just a look of concern on his face.  


“Loki? Did we do it?”  


Concern turned to confusion. “Do what? Are you quite well, brother?”  


As Thor allowed Loki to pull him up into a proper standing position, he finally took in his surroundings. They were once again aboard the Ark. He and his brother were side by side at the window. He remembered this moment well: they had been discussing the wisdom of Loki returning to Earth only to be interrupted by the arrival of Thanos.  


Thanos.  


Thor shook out of his brother’s grip in order to press himself against the window again. There was no sign of the ship as far as he could see. Could the Mad Titan truly be gone? Thor could always ask Heimdall to check for him. Perhaps Loki could even do it. Behind him, he heard Loki clear his throat. It occurred to Thor that his behaviour must be most perplexing.  


He turned, still leaning against the window. Loki was clearly awaiting an explanation.  


“Thanos attacked.”  


The change in Loki’s body language was instant: his back stiffened; his arms drew in protectively around his torso; his eyes darted around as though the Titan could jump out of the shadows at any given moment.  


Thor went on. “Loki, he decimated us. Then he made it to Earth and killed so many there. He clicked his fingers and half the universe vanished.”  


Loki stepped forward, placing a hand on Thor’s arm. “Did you have a vision?”  


“No, I lived through it. I met a version of you from another universe and we fixed everything. I have so much to tell you, Loki. I should probably talk to Heimdall. Oh, Heimdall! He lives, Loki!”  


Loki shrugged. “That doesn’t seem much of a cause for celebration.”  


Thor chuckled. He took in the sight of his brother then: hale and hearty, as happy as Thor remembered him being at that moment in time. He swallowed. “You really are my Loki, aren’t you?”  


An eyebrow raised. “Whose Loki would I be?”  


Thor could not fight the grin that spread across his face. Nor could he fight the urge to hug his brother. He leapt forward, snatching Loki into his arms. They stumbled backwards together, giving Thor the space to twirl his little brother round in the air.  


Loki let out an indignant squeak. “What is it with you and hugs of late?”  


He dropped Loki back onto the floor but did not let go of him. For his part, Loki did not seem all that keen on ending their physical contact either.  


Looking at his brother, Thor thought back to what the other Loki had said. _Kiss your Loki. He will have wanted it for years but not realise until you do it ___  


His Loki, it seemed, was waiting patiently for whatever his fool of a brother was going to do next.  


Thor leaned in close enough to nudge Loki’s nose with his own, eliciting a bemuse giggle. He was painfully aware that he could be about to ruin everything. But, he owed it to himself to at least try, lest he spend an eternity wondering what might have been.  


Thor placed his hand at the side of his brother’s neck. Tilting Loki’s jaw up with his thumb, he brought their lips together.  


Loki shoved him away, stumbling back.  


Thor braced himself for a stabbing that he probably deserved.  


It never came. Loki merely stood there, eyes wide, pressing the fingers of one hand to his lips. The shock and disbelief were evident but, what Thor could not see, was anger.  


“Thor… what happened to you exactly?”  


“A long story, of which I will tell you all but for now I would rather kiss you again. With your permission, of course.”  


When Loki dropped his hand, he was smiling. He made no show of protest as Thor's hands came to rest on his hips. 

“Thor, you appear to have fallen into madness.” There was a trace of amusement there which told Thor that it was not an outright rejection.  


“It appears I have. Won’t you join me, brother?”  


Loki – cautiously, as though waiting for the whole thing to be revealed as some cruel jest – placed his hands lightly on Thor’s chest.  


Thor made no move – this had to be purely Loki’s decision. He could not stop his body from reacting, though. His breathing increased and his heartrate spiked. There was no way that his reaction would have gone unnoticed by Loki. If the little quirk in the corner of his mouth were any indication, he found it all terribly amusing.  


Loki placed his hand over Thor’s heart, let it race against his palm. “You really do want this, don’t you?”  


A wicked impulse overcame Thor then. He shrugged. “I could take it or leave it, to be honest.”  


Loki withdrew his hands.  


For a moment, Thor was certain that his gamble had gone horribly wrong, that he had ruined everything for the sake of a silly joke. But then Loki rolled his eyes and performed an exaggerated sigh.  


“You really are the worst brother.”  


His hand closed on Thor’s neck and pulled him in for a kiss.  


Their first real kiss, and yet it was not (that was going to be an uncomfortable conversation).  


Thor’s arms wrapped round Loki’s waist, crushing them together. Loki’s arms slid around his neck. Pressed so tightly together, his brother’s tongue hot in his mouth, Thor felt a sense of peace like he had never known.  


Behind them, the stars stretched out. Beyond that: Midgard, where they would carve out a place for their people.  


And a life, together. 

___***_  


Loki awoke on the floor of his garishly decorated Sakaarian bedroom. His legs were crossed underneath him. He recognised this point in time immediately: he had just sat down to seek an audience with Thanos.  


For a moment, he wondered if the whole thing had merely been some kind of vision; if the Norns, or whomever else, had chosen to show him how everything would play out should he go to Thanos. It was not, of course, it had all felt far too real for that. Besides, Thor was the one who had prophetic dreams.  


He spared a thought for the Thor who had been his lover. He was returning to a happier universe than himself, Loki was sure of it. He was pleased for him, really.  


But now he had to go and find his own Thor.  


*  


As Loki waited outside the Hulk’s rooms, he ran through just what he was going to say to his brother. It would probably be a touch too much to explain everything that had happened, and it would be downright foolish of him to let Thor know that he had wielded the infinity gauntlet. Apart from that, though, honesty was probably the best policy.  


The Hulk left his room with the Valkyrie, apparently to train. At some point, the two of them were also going to have to be convinced to help defeat Hela. Loki decided he would let Thor deal with that.  


Remaining invisible, Loki slipped past the two of them and into the room.  


Thor was pacing, clearly frustrated at his confinement. Eventually, he noticed the bar in the room and stormed over to that.  


With his brother facing away from him, Loki cast off his invisibility.  


“Hello, brother.”  


Thor had been about to take a drink of something so potent that Loki could smell it from several feet away. He paused – the decanter almost to his lips – to let out an enormous sigh. He turned to face Loki.  


“What now?”  


As poor a welcome as that was, Loki could not help but smile at him. His Thor, alive and well and once gain bitterly disappointed in him. Perhaps a little sentiment was not so bad every now and then.  


“Well, that is a charming way to greet your beloved brother.” He carried on as Thor rolled his eyes and drained the decanter. “As it happens, I have a plan to defeat Hela. It’ll be risky and there’ll be bits of it that you won’t like but I know for a fact that it will all pay off. Firstly…”  


Thor slammed the empty decanter back down on the bar. Every glass on the shelf rattled.  


“What game is this, Loki? Last time we spoke, you tried to convince me that it was hopeless to go after her. What’s brought about this sudden change of heart? Fallen out of favour, have you?”  


Oh, of course Thor was not willing to hear him out. Typical, really, all the work that Loki had put into fixing things and now it was all going to fall to pieces because his brother wanted to be in a mood with him. Thor was not even waiting for an answer, just pacing about throwing the stopper from the decanter between his two hands.  


“How about you listen to the plan before dismissing it, you arrogant little…”  


“How much did you lose?” Thor looked up at him from beneath his brow.  


Loki had no idea what he was talking about. He had, of course, lost everything but this Thor did not know that. Evidently, the confusion showed on his face.  


“The bet, Loki, the one I ruined by surviving. So sorry to have let you down.”  


There had been so such bet, Loki had merely wanted to rile his brother. He saw no reason to stop now.  


“As it happens, the wager was not that you’d die, but only that you would lose and as you lost so unequivocally…”  


Thor’s jaw all but hit the floor. He jabbed an angry finger at Loki.  


“Did you not see me out there? I threw the Hulk round like a rag doll!”  


“I passed the beast in the corridor moments ago; he looked fine to me.”  


“He heals fast! He…” Thor stopped, having caught on to what his brother was doing. It was probably Loki’s smile that had given it away. Thor smiled too, but turned his face to hide it.  


When he turned back, he was serious again. “Loki, you were wishing me dead yesterday.”  


Loki shrugged. “That was yesterday. Today I want you to live a long and happy life,” He hesitated before adding the next part, it was true, but it was unlikely that Thor would see it that way. “With me.”  


Thor’s ears pricked up. “With you?”  


“Yes, because I love you more that anything else in this whole rotten universe.” Loki hated that he could not fall back on his skills of charm and manipulation for this. He could do nothing but be sincere and hope that Thor believed him.  


Thor appeared to be struggling. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Eventually, he went back to tossing the stopper from hand to hand.  


“You know, I want to believe that, Loki. I’d love for you to be genuine, to be here because you love me and want to join me in stopping Hela. Nothing would make me happier. But, the fact of the matter is, if you really cared, you would actually be here.”  


He threw the stopper at Loki.  


On a reflex, Loki’s hand shot out and caught it.  


Thor’s mouth dropped open again before twisting up into a smile. He rushed forward.  


Loki braced himself for a back-breaking hug, but Thor stopped just short of him. Perhaps he was wary of being caught out yet again. It pained Loki that he still had a while to go to earn back Thor’s trust but that was something he was willing to spend a lifetime working on.  


He held out the stopper. When Thor made to take it, Loki dropped it to the floor. He took Thor's outstretched hand, lacing their fingers together. Loki looked into his brother’s eyes, into his stupid, infuriating, beautiful, perfect, smiling face.  


“I’m here.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time to comment or leave kudos, it has really meant a lot to me. 
> 
> Hope you all liked the conclusion!


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